Alfred (98462)
98462 (formerly and sometimes referred to as Alfred) was a blue (formerly apple green) tender engine who was brought on trial by Sir Topham Hatt in 1922 along with Crovan (then simply named 87546) and Henry. He inadvertently destroyed himself in a failed murder attempt in 1925. He later reappeared as a ghost/demon wanting revenge on Gordon and Henry, believing they were the sole cause his downfall and death. BioEdit Alfred was built around 1916, originally for the Great Eastern Railway, was later named after Alfred Jovington of the London & North Western Railway and arrived on Sodor in 1922 along with Henry and 87546 in The Trouble with Three. He and 87546 were very rude and nasty to Henry, treating him very horribly mainly because of his flawed design. After rescuing 87546, who had run out of water because he was too impatient to take on more, Henry became the number 3, which angered Alfred and 87546 greatly. Out of anger, Alfred viciously insulted the other engines, Henry's being the worst as he called him a "mixed-bred mongrel", which made the Fat Controller scold him severely for insulting the engines and tell him he was a disgrace to the man he was named after. Angered by the Fat Controller telling him this, Alfred became determined to prove his worth and show him the "ways of the London & North Western Railway". The next day, he tried to do this by speeding down the rails recklessly at high speed with his passenger train, racing through the station and into the harbor, but it only caused him to crash into a line of vans, come off the rails and land into the sea. As a result of this accident, it was quite clear to the Fat Controller that his name and LNER heritage had made him very arrogant and impertinent, so to try and resolve this, he had Alfred repainted to NWR blue like Thomas and Edward and had his name withdrawn to simply his number 98462 in order to "prevent disgracing Sir Jovington even more". In Pride of the LNER when Gordon arrived in 1923, 98462 believed he could be redeemed. He tried to manipulate Gordon and lied to him by making up his own reason why he had his name and LNER apple green livery, however this didn't work in the end after the engines told Gordon about 98462's true arrogant and horrid nature later that evening in the sheds. The next day when Gordon was tasked of taking the first high-speed express service to Vicarstown, Gordon confronted him with what the other engines had told him the other night and once again he tried to manipulate Gordon to get him on his side. When Gordon returned to Knapford, Alfred spitefully mocked Gordon for his 100 MPH achievement on his express run earlier, only to be immediately silenced by the Fat Controller. When he made Gordon the Number 4 engine, 98462 crossly said that Fat Controller that said he would give him and 87546 the next numbers in line after Henry, but the Fat Controller sternly made it firm and clear to him that they would only earn those numbers if they behaved, which they hadn't, and that they had been nothing but trouble since the very day they arrived on Sodor. After that, 98462 reversed out of the station, angrily billowing out his nullified name as he did, but the only thing he got out of that was Edward saying what a scoundrel he was. Later that evening, when Gordon returned to the sheds after he had been repainted NWR blue, Alfred could be seen glaring furiously at him a distance from the sheds. In Disgrace of the LNER, after Gordon was finished talking with The Fat Controller at Knapford, Alfred angrily confronted him for being painted blue saying how much of a disgrace it was to the LNER. After brutally insulting Gordon when he told him off for his monstrous behavior, both engines got into a fight by bashing into each other repeatedly and never spoke to each other again afterwards. In 1925, The Fat Controller decided to send 98462 back to the LNER on the mainland in disgrace, finally realizing that nothing was ever going to make him change his vile ways in the slightest no matter what. While waiting in Knapford Harbour to be sent away, 98462 went insane believing that Henry and Gordon were solely responsible for his downfall (even though in reality it was really his own fault for his horrid and spiteful demeanor), and decided to try and destroy them as an act of revenge. He shunted a train of fuel tankers together and used nine goods vans to try and shield himself from the blast and pushed them in front of them at high speed. Just before he and his train reached Wellsworth station where Henry and Gordon were waiting, a signalman managed to divert him into a siding in the yard, where 98462 and his explosive train came of the rails and he was destroyed in the resulting explosion. Edward later took his remains to be scrapped. 20 years later in 1945 when the Rev. W. Awdry first created the Railway Series, he rightfully decided to never mention anything of 98462 in his story, only showing a few illustrations of him and 87546 in his first book The Three Railway Engines and telling others who asked about him that he was sent away in disgrace for being nasty and rude (of course, he was sent away, but he never mentioned he was sent away in pieces). Alfred later appeared in Night Express to Vicarstown. In late hours of October 3, 1995. He somehow managed to create an enormous sinkhole which swallowed up all three tracks of the mainline outside of Wellsworth just before Gordon's Hill, then he had a fallen tree appear on the mainline behind Gordon trapping him where he was. Then later in the early hours of October 4, Henry had to come to the rescue with the breakdown train to try and clear up the mess, then he had a blanket of fog surround the area and both engines. He appeared later in the security footage taken on the gaurd's video camera that early morning as a ghost with a demonic face and fiery red eyes as jumped out of nowhere and somehow derailed Henry, Gordon and their trains, and seriously injured their crews and the workmen. He later made his third and final appearance in Revenge of the Ghost Train where he appeared in a security camera tape at Wellsworth station at 2:01 AM, 10 days after the events of Night Express to Vicarstown where he simply rolled through the station late at night. Two men were sent the day after to capture him on camera, but he never appeared at the same time. They decided to walk up the line, but shortly after they turned around to go back, he was there behind them, scaring them and them both scream and terror until they were suddenly cut off into silence (Alfred could have possibly used his powers to make the two men disappear from existence forever). He then intercepted Henry at a red signal near Wellsworth and proved his demon powers by levitating one of Henry’s vans and throwing it into the signal box. He let Henry go after then saying “You can run, but you can’t hide.” The Fat Controller and Nathan W. Rogman, a sort of ghost specialist who was once a guard on The Culdee Fell Railway, then came up with a plan to trap Alfred in a magical kettle constructed by a wizard back in the 16th Century with the help of Hornsby, Rusty’s driver. This kettle also trapped Godred the No. 1 Engine of the Culdee Fell Railway (This episode is non-cannon to The Slopes of Culdee Fell series) when he haunted the line around the point where he fell and met his demise. Their plan was to ram Alfred at speed with either Gordon or Henry. On their way to Wellsworth, they stopped nearby the station as they knew Alfred was there. When Alfred appeared before the two engines and began to speak, Gordon quickly interrupted him not wanting to hear his nonsense on how he and Henry were responsible for his death and told him off how it was his own fault because of how rude, arrogant and spiteful he was in life. As they both argued over the matter, Henry reversed away and got into position ready to hit him. But just as he approached him, Alfred disappeared in time and reappeared beside Gordon to then notice Henry and the Fat Controller reversing back for a second attempt. Then he threw them high into the air and made them drop into a ditch. He then derailed Gordon after he tried to escape. But just as he was about to finish both engines off, Crovan then appeared and told him how he never liked his horrid attitude and how he had manipulated him to try and make him just as vile as him. After being taunted, The Fat Controller picked up the kettle and was able to trap Alfred by running at his own speed. At the end of the special, Hornsby was seen carrying the kettle in the mountains around Arlesdale Lake where it was discovered, then the wizard who created the kettle appeared in front of Hornsby and he returned it to him, possibly so he could deal with Alfred's evil spirit once and for all. PersonalityEdit Alfred is horrid, rude, and evil. Trainz ModelsEdit TheFatHatt's reskin of Alfred is used. Skarloey123's model of Alfred in his LNER livery is used when he first arrived until he was repainted blue and had his name withdrawn. BasisEdit The official basis of Alfred is not known, as the few pictures of him in The Three Railway Engines are not clear. However, many (including T1E2H3) agree that he is most likely based on the Great Eastern Railway Class S69 4-6-0, later known as the London & North Eastern Railway Class B12, originally designed by S.D. Holden with 71 built between 1911 and 1921. Only one survivor of the class, No. 8752, is preserved today and can be seen operating on the North Norfolk Railway. AppearancesEdit The Engines of SodorEdit Season 4Edit * Painful Memories (appears in flashback, stock footage) * A Turning Point for Edward (appears in flashback, cameo) SpecialsEdit * Night Express to Vicarstown (appears as a ghost) * The Most Famous Engine (appears in flashback) * Revenge of the Ghost Train (appears as a ghost) NWR OriginsEdit Season 1Edit * The Trouble with Three * Pride of the LNER * Disgrace of the LNER Voice ActorsEdit * DarthWill3: NWR Origins onwards (via stock recordings) RWS AppearancesEdit 98462 appeared along with 87546 in three illustrations of the first Railway Series book The Three Railway Engines. They were not named until much later by the Rev W. Awdry when he got letters asking him who the two blue engines were. TriviaEdit * 98462 was the basis for Skarloey123's fan character Alfred in his series "Sodor: Dark Times". The model of Alfred was released on SI3D, and TheFattHatt reskinned it into 98462's blue livery, incorporating Alfred's name. Over the years, Alfred has earned a cult following among Thomas Fans on the internet and because of this, many fans, including WildnorWester and ShunterProductions, have used Alfred in their stories. Thomas1Edward2Henry3 has used Alfred as 98462 as well. * Alfred's "mental breakdown" was inspired by the Hellfire song in the Disney movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the character Forte the Pipe Organ from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. Alfred concludes that Henry and Gordon are the reason for all his woes, and must be destroyed. * In the original script for Disgrace of the L.N.E.R, Alfred carried out a suicide attack rather than a simple failed murder. This was changed (the box vans were added between him and the tankers) because T1E2H3 decided it would be too dark, especially in light of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. * The L.N.E.R began operation in 1923, and was formed two years prior. Therefore, Alfred was likely first painted in the G.E.R livery, and then was one of the first engines to display the L.N.E.R livery. * Both of Alfred's speaking roles after Disgrace of the L.N.E.R are stock audio from N.W.R Origins. * "In Night Express to Vicarstown" and "Revenge of the Ghost Train", Alfred's ghost, like Godred, has red eyes and with burn marks, probably from the explosion. He also died in his blue coat, but appears in his L.N.E.R green as a ghost, probably to his desire to have it back after it was taken away from him, however, in Revenge of the Ghost Train, he only has the red eyes in pictures because it would've been too hard for T1E2H3 to insert them while moving. * Alfred is the only character to have a voice actor in the Engines of Sodor after Season 2. However, his lines were stock audio from N.W.R Origins.